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U2 - The Crystal Ballroom
 Album:
Songs Of Innocence (2014)
  1. Originally posted by CMIPalaeo:The Showman is phenomenally good. Everyone says they want U2 to try new things, well, there ya go: U2 as The Beatles in Hamburg. That’s different than anything they’ve done and I for one think it’s excellent.

    But since we’re getting off-topic, The Crystal Ballroom - I’ve played this around lots of U2 casuals/uninitiated, and it has always met with positive reception. It feels rather 70s, not quite like classic U2 but still with that perfect U2 quality. Some lovely lyrics here.
    TCB can only be fully appreciated when you read Bono's note about it:


    “I need to tell you something really weird about this song,” Bono told the Irish Times. “It’s called The Crystal Ballroom, which used to be the name of McGonagles in South Anne Street [now knocked down]. A whole generation of Dubliners would go to the Crystal Ballroom for dances, and many couples first met there. My mother and father used to dance together in the Crystal Ballroom, so that song I just sang you, which hasn’t been released yet, is me imagining I’m on the stage of McGonagles with this new band I’m in called U2 – and we did play a lot of our important early gigs there. And I look out into the audience and I see my mother and father dancing romantically together to U2 on the stage.”

    “I have just realised that my mother died 40 years ago yesterday, and here we are today playing our new album about Dublin, which is about my family and what happened to me as a teenager.

    “My mother died when she was at her father’s funeral. She had a cerebral aneurysm. I was only 14. And in this song I am singing, “Everyone is here tonight, everyone but you.” And it’s me wanting to see my mother dance again in the Crystal Ballroom and for her to see what happened to her son.”


    If that text doesn't hit you I don't know anymore.
  2. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    TCB can only be fully appreciated when you read Bono's note about it:


    “I need to tell you something really weird about this song,” Bono told the Irish Times. “It’s called The Crystal Ballroom, which used to be the name of McGonagles in South Anne Street [now knocked down]. A whole generation of Dubliners would go to the Crystal Ballroom for dances, and many couples first met there. My mother and father used to dance together in the Crystal Ballroom, so that song I just sang you, which hasn’t been released yet, is me imagining I’m on the stage of McGonagles with this new band I’m in called U2 – and we did play a lot of our important early gigs there. And I look out into the audience and I see my mother and father dancing romantically together to U2 on the stage.”

    “I have just realised that my mother died 40 years ago yesterday, and here we are today playing our new album about Dublin, which is about my family and what happened to me as a teenager.

    “My mother died when she was at her father’s funeral. She had a cerebral aneurysm. I was only 14. And in this song I am singing, “Everyone is here tonight, everyone but you.” And it’s me wanting to see my mother dance again in the Crystal Ballroom and for her to see what happened to her son.”


    If that text doesn't hit you I don't know anymore.
    Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyep.

    Baffles me that this song wasn't on Songs of Innocence. Baffles me that it wasn't the first single. That chorus slaps, boy.
  3. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]
    Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyep.

    Baffles me that this song wasn't on Songs of Innocence. Baffles me that it wasn't the first single. That chorus slaps, boy.
    Should've been the album opener and the I+E show opener as well.
  4. Originally posted by LikeASong: And in this song I am singing, “Everyone is here tonight, everyone but you.” And it’s me wanting to see my mother dance again in the Crystal Ballroom and for her to see what happened to her son.”[/i].

    Holy fuck I wasn't expecting to cry this Tuesday morning
  6. Not that I can remember! I knew that it was about a club where his parents went together but now I see this song in a completely different light.
  7. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmaybe
  8. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    TCB can only be fully appreciated when you read Bono's note about it:


    “I need to tell you something really weird about this song,” Bono told the Irish Times. “It’s called The Crystal Ballroom, which used to be the name of McGonagles in South Anne Street [now knocked down]. A whole generation of Dubliners would go to the Crystal Ballroom for dances, and many couples first met there. My mother and father used to dance together in the Crystal Ballroom, so that song I just sang you, which hasn’t been released yet, is me imagining I’m on the stage of McGonagles with this new band I’m in called U2 – and we did play a lot of our important early gigs there. And I look out into the audience and I see my mother and father dancing romantically together to U2 on the stage.”

    “I have just realised that my mother died 40 years ago yesterday, and here we are today playing our new album about Dublin, which is about my family and what happened to me as a teenager.

    “My mother died when she was at her father’s funeral. She had a cerebral aneurysm. I was only 14. And in this song I am singing, “Everyone is here tonight, everyone but you.” And it’s me wanting to see my mother dance again in the Crystal Ballroom and for her to see what happened to her son.”


    If that text doesn't hit you I don't know anymore.
    YES. I always tell people that it’s a song about Bono imagining seeing his parents dancing together to U2 in the crowd, with the background about how she died just before the band got together and so on... I don’t reckon non-diehards get it, but... God, it brings a tear to my eye.
  9. I think it should’ve been the second act opener. They had the mirrorball for Chrissakes! And the perfect setup to do this long buildup exploding into the groovy guitar licks after the intermission!
  10. Originally posted by ASortOfDesire:[..]
    Not that I can remember! I knew that it was about a club where his parents went together but now I see this song in a completely different light.

    That's the beauty of it. Objectively it might be "just a good song", but it's elevated to the "incredible song" status when you take that story and meaning into account.
  11. I found out from a fan that the band were about to play this song during a concert (don't know which one, 2015 of course) but had to skip it due to technical difficulties. So, it's only been played twice live I think.
  12. Originally posted by iamcrazytonight:I found out from a fan that the band were about to play this song during a concert (don't know which one, 2015 of course) but had to skip it due to technical difficulties. So, it's only been played twice live I think.
    Probably because it wasn't on the original 11 tracks on SOI they didn't feel the need to make it a regular on tour maybe the tempo of the song didn't sit comfortably with them when playing it live something Bono referenced about the songs on No Line not catching fire on the 360 tour in Q magazine, they have so many great songs that have laid dormant for too long hopefully they dust them off for the next tour.